Regulator raps Ryanair, Virgin and others for being too slow on refunds – but says all UK airlines have now agreed to pay up

How did different airlines perform? 

The CAA's review has focused on 18 different airlines. This includes all the UK airlines, as well as a number of EU or international airlines which have large UK operations or had been identified as potentially having significant refund problems. 

It used its own investigations as well as information provided by consumers and consumer bodies to look into whether airlines were placing barriers in the way of customers requesting refunds through unclear messaging and difficult-to-navigate or understaffed customer services.

The CAA says it found only three airlines – American Airlines, Jet2 and United Airlines –were promptly paying out refunds and didn't have major backlogs. Jet2 was the highest-rated airline in our latest travel survey, with American Airlines placing fourth (United Airlines didn't receive enough responses to be ranked). 

And on the other end of the scale, it's named and shamed airlines such as Easyjet, Ryanair, Tui and Virgin Atlantic for not paying out refunds quickly enough – though it says all have made commitments to improve their payment times. Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic were the worst-rated major airlines in our survey. 

It also highlighted airlines such as Air Canada, Air Transat and Turkish Airlines which it initially identified as not paying refunds based on customer complaints – yet it says all airlines it contacted have now confirmed they are paying out cash refunds as they're required to. Again, Air Transat was the second worst-rated airline in our survey. 

You can see the CAA's comments on individual airlines' performances below:

The CAA says it will continue to monitor the performance of all airlines that were initially identified as not paying refunds or paying out too slowly. 

It's also written to another 30 European and international airlines that operate services to and from the UK to highlight the results of its review and warn them against denying customers refunds. These airlines weren't initially included in the review as they were already in discussions with national and European bodies. 

What does the CAA say? 

CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty said: "The airlines we have reviewed have responded by significantly enhancing their performance, reducing their backlogs, and improving their processing speeds in the interests of consumers. 

"Although we have taken into account the serious operational challenges many airlines have faced, we have been clear that customers cannot be let down, and that airlines must pay refunds as soon as possible.

"There is still work to do. We have required commitments from airlines as they continue the job of paying customer refunds. Should any airline fall short of the commitments they have made, we will not hesitate to take any further action where required."